[How-To Tuesday]: Chalkboard Table

Do any of you have a dining table that looks like it's been through a lot? Hot plates, food spills, crayon marks, scratches, dents...or all of the above? Well that pretty much describes my table. Before I had my 2-year old daughter, the table was in great condition. We bought it a few years ago at Garden Ridge for about $150 (including the chairs) after we purchased our house. But recently, our poor table has been attacked by our dog, written/scratched on by our daughter, and, most recently, got an ugly heat stain from my husband who put a paper plate with hot food on it (apparently paper plates trap the heat in). And I am sure I am guilty of slamming the chair into the table creating lovely dents on the sides. Being the perfectionist that I am, I could deal with the scratches, marks, etc., but the heat stain threw me over the edge. And after trying every type of solution that I found online (toothpaste, baking soda, ashes, steam iron, etc.), I decided to just go ahead and paint it. But not with just any paint...

That's right! Chalkboard paint! Don't you just love it?!

So here's what my table looked like before:

[I know it doesn't look too bad in the photo, but in person your eye immediately goes to the stain. You can kind of see it on the right-hand side.]

[First, I wiped down and lightly sanded the entire top of the table.]

[Then, I wiped off the table so that it was as dust-free as possible. Then I painted it with a very thick coat of chalkboard paint. Since I put on one thick coat, it took a while to dry (like 2 days!), so I probably should have put multiple thinner coats for even distribution & faster drying. After it completely dried, I primed it by rubbing chalk all over the table to prevent whatever you write on it to not be there permanently.]

Voila! And this is what it looks like now! It's much more "kid-friendly" now. :0)

With chalkboard paint, the possibilities are endless. Here I have the table all set with fake flowers and fake dinnerware. :0) Who knows what the table will look like tomorrow!

Bon Appetit!

Thank you Paisley Passions for inspiring me and giving me the courage to do this fun project!

Go check out her chalkboard table! It's really neat!

I will be linking this table up to these linky parties!

[Jen]